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Thursday, March 7, 2013

Sesame Crusted Turkey Meatballs

I recently attended a baby shower where the theme was 'ready to pop' and by pop I mean popcorn! The table was laden with bowl upon bowl of different flavoured popcorn while every other dish was sized down to resemble some form of a pop.

When I first learned of the theme I was so excited by the possibilities, but it soon had me racking my brain trying to come up with a dish that was 1) relatively healthy 2) savory in nature and 3) looked like popcorn. Eventually I hit upon the idea of coating mini turkey meatballs in a sesame seed crust to resemble little popcorn balls. Bloody brilliant was what I thought. That was until I realised no such recipe existed on the internet, at least none that I could find. After a little improvising and trial and error I believe I've finally perfected a recipe that was good enough to serve up at a party and more importantly, good enough to share on this blog. So here you have it- mini thai style turkey meatballs in a sesame seed crust. Enjoy!

1. Combine turkey, egg, panko, ginger, garlic, shallot, scallions, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and cooking wine in a large bowl.
2. Mix with hands till well combined. Microwave a spoonful of mixture to check if more seasoning is required.
3. Shape 1tsp of meat mixture into a ball and place on tray. Repeat.
4. Once you have a full tray of meatballs, generously coat with sesame seeds. Shake tray to coat underside of meatballs.
5. Heat up enough peanut oil in a pan so meatballs are half immersed.
6. Fry meatballs on medium heat for 2 minutes on either side to crisp the sesame seeds.
7. Transfer back to tray and finish cooking in oven at 350F degrees for 5 minutes depending on size of meatballs.
8. Serve with ample sweet chili sauce or another condiment of choice.

I have NEVER heard of Turkey meatballs, this is such a unique idea. I need to give this a try, except I can't cook if my life depended on it. On a side note, the pictures are gorgeous. What camera do you use?

Yummy yummy! I love meatballs but I haven't tried turkey ones before. I'm sure they would taste good. The photo steps look easier to follow! The words scare lazy people like me. I guess I can improvise my own meatballs just from your pictures. I bet the dish was a hit!

I love this idea, Jenee! First of all, the popcorn-themed shower idea got me right away, popcorn has been my favourite snack since I was little :) But the idea of popcorn-like treats is even more clever and your pretty little turkey meatballs look almost too cute to eat! I'm a vegetarian but I'm always on the hunt for cute recipes like this for entertaining, I'm definitely bookmarking this one - thanks so much for sharing!xox,Cee